Another Company Moving Here

[Rowdy]

Media Powerhouse Bringing Several Hundred Jobs To Green Country
KOTV - 4/25/2007 8:50 PM - Updated 4/25/2007 9:07 PM

A media giant is coming to Tulsa, and it's bringing several hundred new jobs with it. The Gannett Company announced plans Wednesday to open a call center here. Gannett says the call center will mean as many as 500 new jobs and believes it will provide a boost for a mid-town shopping center. Gannett is one of the most powerful media companies in the country. It publishes 90 newspapers, most notably USA Today. It owns more than 20 TV stations, operates 120 websites and the News On 6's Chris Wright reports now the company is coming to Tulsa.

"Tulsa is on a roll right now," said Tulsa Metro Chamber of Commerce president Mike Neal.

Neal has been wooing Gannett for months. He says bringing such a big name to town will help improve Tulsa's business climate.

"We're excited," he said. "It's a chance to bring a new, nationally prominent business into an existing facility in the center of our city."

The existing facility is the former Staples Call Center, in the Fontana Shopping Center near 51st and Memorial. Employees will answer newspaper subscribers' customer service calls from across the country. Contractors were already busy Wednesday installing steps and working on the building's interior.

This will be an extremely quick turnaround for Gannett. They expect to have this facility up and running by next month. Neighboring restaurants are looking forward to the opening. Besides the 500 potential new customers, owners say the entire Fontana Center could use a jolt.

"It has been down a little bit, but with them coming in, it's going to help us move up a little bit," said Pablo Flores of Monterey's Tex Mex Café.

The chamber of commerce is confident attracting the media giant will help all of Tulsa move up a little bit.

"We're very optimistic that this will bring new jobs with it and stimulate other companies to say yes and come to the Tulsa region," Neal said.

Gannett is hoping to fill those 500 jobs as soon as possible.

[Conan71]

Great, wonderful, and hello Gannett.

I don't want to piss on the parade, but doesn't the MTCC have any contacts with companies who want to bring more than call center jobs to the city?  

What?  Do people think all we do in Tulsa is gab on the phone all the time?  Some of us do our gabbing on the internet.[}:)]

I mean it's a good way to bring people up out of minimum wage entry-level jobs into something with benefits and better pay.  But it doesn't attract young professionals right out of college to stay or move here which seems to be something we all agree upon.

How about finding some more companies with the types of jobs which will attract people to move here instead of creating lateral or semi-lateral moves from segment to another in our job market.

MTCC, thank you for the 500 new jobs.  Let's start aiming even higher.

[iplaw]

Don't get me wrong, and I am thankful for the jobs, but it's strange that these companies would outsource call center jobs to Tulsa when they could just as easily send them to Hyderbad or Mumbai...and for less money I would guess.

[sgrizzle]

They could but call centers have often been located here because of low cost of living (cheap labor) and the relatively generic way in which we speak english.

[cannon_fodder]

IP, the trend of call centers going over seas is over.  It frustrated too many people.  Whether I am trying to join a company, am a current customer, or have a problem talking to someone that I cannot understand well is not a good thing.  Not to mention the problem of finding good workers in India who will work the odd hours that are 9-5pm here.  For the little extra it costs to have centers in the USA, its worth it for many applications.  Especially when you are trying to pretend to be the 'home town newspaper.'

I echo the sentiment of others when I say congratulations on attracting a new business and new jobs to Tulsa - but lets get some jobs for more professionals or high paying skilled laborers.   What will these jobs pay - $10-16?  Probably not bad, but there is also no where to go with them.  

Also, I find it strange that someone wants to bring 500 jobs to Tulsa where we have a shortage of labor.  Especially when those jobs are not the kind that will draw people to the city.  Will anyone move to Tulsa to work at a call center for $12 an hour?  A suppose the few dozen salaried positions and the 50 supervisors might... but the other 400 probably not.

In any event, GANNETT:  Welcome to Tulsa.  I hope you bring a good corporate presence and prove to be a good employer and member of the community.

[Johnboy976]

If only they could equate low-cost-of-living to "hey let's move our whole operations there." That might make too much sense, though. I sincerely hope that they are testing the waters to see if they can REALLY save money. If so, they'll move more good paying jobs there in the future.

[AMP]

Flowers dot Com operates a large call center in Ardmore in an old abandoned Wal Mart building.

By the looks of the vehicles in the lot, it does not appear it pays much to work there.  The old garden center is used for the break room, and from driving by it looks as if 90% of the workers pack a brown bag special.  Not sure if those high priced restaurants in Fontana will feel much from that income level of employee.  

Those jobs are typically "revolving door type" that have high turnover and take advantage of part timers, school summer breaks, seasonal help and a continus line of applicants from various sources.  They are not designed for advancement or promotions, just for production.  

Not sure who or where all these Newspaper subscription calls are comeing from, but it may be the volume has reached such a low number all then need is the Tulsa unit and as pointed out this is a cheap labor market.  

Perhaps they are feeling the changes brought on by the Internet, and are grasping for an answer.  Most people with any type of online connection or a TV can log on or turn on at 4am and get the majoity of the headlines for that day.  

Speaking of TV this morning at 2am all three Air TV local stations aired the same info mercial about real estate sales.  Almost ran to the second in real time of one another.  2, 6 and 8 all had it on at the same exact time???

Wonder how cheap that air time is now?

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by AMP

Those jobs are typically "revolving door type" that have high turnover and take advantage of part timers, school summer breaks, seasonal help and a continus line of applicants from various sources.  They are not designed for advancement or promotions, just for production.  

Call center jobs are today what menial manufacturing jobs were in the past.  There's a reason call centers are referred to as boiler rooms.

[cannon_fodder]

Good comparison Conan.

I guess I overlook the fact that a large portion of the workforce needs somewhere to start.  Either to find direction, make spending cash (not primary income earner), or between jobs kind of thing.  it is designed and packaged as a menial job.

I just hope we dont build our economy or pretend like we can on such jobs.  No offense to anyone working such a job, but clearly it is most likely a road to nowhere.

[AMP]

Many companies have adopted this type of approach to employees.

One also needs to remember the minimum wage act that raised the minimum wage from $3.35 per hour which it had been for ten years up to $4.25 and then $5.15 after a period of time.

When that went into effect it was the largest tax brought on small business owners in a decade.  Hidden as a wage bill, the burden was shared by the business owners and the consumers.  Then after the wage earners got their first checks and at years end discovered that they had become Bona Fide TAX payers due to the fact if they actually worked 2,080 hours or 40 hrs per week times 52 weeks, at the new wage suddenly they pierced the threshold on the Federal Income tax schedule and now had to pay Income Tax on their increased earnings.  At one time the actual increas take home for a single person at $4.25 vrs $3.35 was around a dime to the worker and the balance to the taxes.  

Prior to that a minimum wage earner could work 2,080 hours with no tax.

So the government invented the Earned Income Tax deal which provided a rebate in theory back to the wage earner based on their status etc.  

Law of Unintended Consequences

At one time I had over 300 employees at one of our businesses, most were minimum wage earners.  They found a chart that taught them how many hours per week they could work before loosing out on the maximum amount of rebate based on the Bell Curve of the Earned Income Tax Credit.   You would constantly have employees not showing up on Fridays or Mondays, their excuse "It costs me as much or more than what you pay me to come to work on that day boss.   Cause I loose my Tax Rebate if I work too many hours."

So, there is the other side of the forumla and problem.    

Employment at will, you have the right to be fired for no given reason at will and you also retain the right to quit with no notice at will.

Since Oklahoma is an "Employment At Will" employment state, other than Collective Barganing Union contracts and perhaps an age discrimination case once in a blue moon, there are very few torts regarding wrongful termination filed here.

[cannon_fodder]

Nor should there be.  If you can quit at will, an employer should be able to fire you at will.  It is unwise for both to do so on a regular basis or they run the risk of not finding what they want in the future (job/workers) due to the reputation.  

One thing that I do think is dirty is hiring people with expectations of benefits with the intention of firing them before they ever get them.  I dont want to see a law against it, but I hope it bites them on the donkey at the end of the day.

[AMP]

That is one of the beauties of using temp help.  For determined projects, there typically is an up front agreement and understanding that the assignment or project is not long term and has an end date.  

By providing that information to the temp employee they know not to make a large purchase such as a new car based on their income at present, or perhaps open a charge account or extenend themselves beyond what they will have at the end of said project.

In addition, the project manager, business owner or board of directors is not obligated to feel guilty once the project is completed in returning the crew to the staffing agency for reassignment elsewhere.  Solves the, sorry your no longer needed and you don't get benefits drama episode.

[guido911]

AMP:  I am not sure where you are getting your information but there is an abundance of wrongful termination lawsuits on file in Tulsa County and across the state. In fact, there are boutique law firms that focus their practices in that area. Being an "at will" state does not prohibit employer from being liable in tort for wrongful termination/retaliatory discharge.